This invention relates to a seam pressing station using steam for pressing fabric seams.
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,107,447, a steam pressing station for reducing the time required for pressing seams during garment manufacture comprises a support stand, a lower pressing member or sleeper provided with a suction chamber, and a conveyor belt disposed with respect to the lower pressing member so that an upper section of the conveyor belt forms an upper pressing surface of the lower pressing member. An upper pressing member or sleeper is fastened to the support stand above the lower pressing member, a form pressing body being mounted to the upper pressing member for motion in a vertical direction substantially perpendicular to the pressing surface of the lower pressing member. The form pressing body is provided with a steam chamber connectable to a steam generator and with a pressing plate forming a lower wall of the steam chamber. The pressing plate is formed with a plurality of steam vents, while a fabric seam threading or fabric spreading device is mounted to a free end of the upper pressing member. In addition, a fabric receiving member or sleeper is attached to the forward or free end of the lower pressing member, extending the lower pressing member beyond the location of the fabric seam threading device.
In practice, difficulties have arisen in attempting to achieve neat and faultless pressing of seams by automatic processes. These difficulties arise in particular from the fact that the properties and nature of the fabric pieces to be pressed differ vastly over a wide range. Because of such variable fabric characteristics as stiffness and thickness of material, the feeding of fabric pieces into the gap between a lower pressing member and an upper pressing member is accomplished with varying effectiveness.
British Pat. No. 143,657 discloses a steam pressing station of the above-described type, in which the fabric piece to be pressed is drawn into the area between the lower pressing member and the upper pressing member by a clamp, rather than by a conveyor belt. The clamp is fastened to one of the pressing members so that it is longitudinally slidable therealong and holds the fabric piece by its edges.
Aside from the facts that such a drawing device permits only a relatively long operating cycle and that a pressed fabric piece must be drawn by hand from the steam pressing station, such an assembly does not ensure a faultless drawing in of the fabric pieces between the pressing members because the fabric, after being drawn onto the lower pressing member, very easily slides to one side or the other and prevents a neat seam press.
An object of the present invention to provide an improved steam pressing station of the above-described type.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such a steam pressing station in which the drawing in of a fabric piece between a lower pressing member and an upper pressing member, as well as the ejection of the fabric piece subsequent to a pressing operation, is accomplished faultlessly irrespective of the thickness and stiffness of the fabric material.